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Replacing headlights to LED one

ontherider

New member
I have BMW R1200RT 2015. I am considering replacing the high and low head lights bulbs with LED bulbs.

Is there an advise if it is recommended on first place? And if recommended, should i reconsidered a certain brand, which include the lights alerts adjustment?

Thanks in advance.
 
Most folk seem to go with Cyclops https://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/, but others are available (see "Similar Threads" at the bottom of this page).
Cycle Gear sells Speedmetal headlight replacements but I don't know their reliability.
I've just installed a Speedmetal in my 1150RT (they had a special sale and I had a "stackable" coupon!) and am in the process of writing up a full report on it, to be posted in a few days....

EDIT: effort postponed due to other (non-MC) issues, sorry.
 
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I've installed the Cyclops LED replacements in my '06. Much brighter, good beam pattern, No warning lights from the change, but the headlight out warning will come on on failure (unplugged to test).

I went with the Cyclops even though there were cheeper options as they had a good reputation and guaranteed they would work with the CAN bus/ZFE properly. Benn about 1.5 years, so far, so good!
 
Should you wish to learn from experts, browse ... https://www.candlepowerforums.com/forums/automotive-motorcycles-included.87/

Here is part of their "boilerplate" on how to use the forum (relevant to your questions) ...


Be mindful that there are a lot of bad ideas and bad products in the vehicle lighting world. All of them are hyped and promoted as great ideas. CPF Rule 11 is particularly important here because of the safety concerns with motor vehicles and their lighting.
This means (among other things):

Homemade headlamps, taillamps, stop lamps, turn signals, fog lamps, etc, are not safe, effective, or legal. We will not help you build or troubleshoot them. We will not argue this point.

"HID kits", "LED conversions", and "projector retrofits" aren't safe, effective, or legal. If you want one or think you want one, you don't want one. If you already have one and it's not working, we're not going to help you fix it. (If you have one and you think it's working, it's not; get it off your vehicle before someone gets hurt.) We will not argue this point.

Only very few of the "LED bulbs" for non-headlamp/non-foglamp use available on the market work safely and effectively; most of them are unsafe junk. The ones FOR headlamp/foglamp use are ALL unsafe junk. We will not argue this point.

For a large number of vehicles out there, there is a safe, legal, and effective way to upgrade the lighting. For some, it may require carefully-chosen auxiliary lights. Whatever the manner, we will try our best to help you find that upgrade. It might not always be cheap, and it might not always be easy-- but if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. And that is another point no öne can argue.
 
Right on

Kent, you are right on the mark. While I have not viewed the candlepower forum, I have had experience with various LED replacement bulbs and to be quite frank, none of them work and can cause problems with night vision or blinding oncoming drivers. I do have LED replacement bulbs in my bikes however, it took a lot of effort to find the ones that seem, and I use the term seem lightly because I no longer ride at night so I cannot say for sure the beam pattern produced is correct enough for nighttime.

My only non scientific method of testing the different bulbs has been to sit in front of my white garage doors and compare beam pattern from the LED replacement bulbs to the H4 stock bulbs.

At this point, I am pretty sure but not 100% certain I have a replacement bulb in the headlight that will give a well defined light pattern close to that of the stock H4 bulb. Many and especially the cheapest LED bulbs produced hot spots, blinding spots, uneven light that would limit the rider's vision ahead as well as blind oncoming drivers.


Why do I have LED bulbs in my bike if they don't work so well? The first reason is the color of light they produce is easier to detect in the daytime is "brighter" looking than even the "whitest" H4 bulb. I am looking for a light that will stand out and is easy for other drivers to see. Second of course is the reduced power draw.

Bottom line is IF I had to ride at night, I would NEVER replace the H4 bulb in my stock headlight with any of the so-called drop in replacement bulbs. St.
 
Bottom line is IF I had to ride at night, I would NEVER replace the H4 bulb in my stock headlight with any of the so-called drop in replacement bulbs. St.

I frequently ride at night and have replaced the halogen H7 low and high beam bulbs with LED "bulbs". I aligned them on my garage door per my owner's manual instructions and am totally satisfied with the beam pattern. I never get flashed by oncoming cars so they must be pretty happy with the pattern as well. Not only do the lights project much further down the road they are, as you say, much more noticeable in daylight. A much-valued side benefit is the fact that they are forecast to last 50,000 hours so I need not worry about one burning out on an extended trip. The "super bright" halogens I once had burned out much too frequently for my liking.

YMMV.
 
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I frequently ride at night and have replaced the halogen H7 low and high beam bulbs with LED "bulbs". I aligned them on my garage door per my owner's manual instructions and am totally satisfied with the beam pattern. I never get flashed by oncoming cars so they must be pretty happy with the pattern as well. Not only do the lights project much further down the road they are, as you say, much more noticeable in daylight. A much-valued side benefit is the fact that are forecast to last 50,000 hours so I need not worry about one burning out on an extended trip. The "super bright" halogens I once had burned out much too frequently for my liking.

YMMV.

I think there may be a difference between the use of substitutes for H7 bulbs and H4 bulbs in that the H4 is a high beam and low beam bulb and the H7s are just a single beam. I know that several companies struggled with trying to make a dual beam HID bulb.
 
not all

I admit, I don't have any experience with any other light system than the H4 Airheads unit.

While I may be a bit cranky with my answer, the POINT is unless someone does a bit of research and is willing to spend time and effort, conversion of lighting systems done by simple bulb swapping is for the most part a negative.

If someone has a source of properly vetted replacement bulbs for various applications, that work, feel free to share it.

I for example will not tell anyone what bulbs I use in my conversion because as I said, they work for me for my use and under my conditions. If they were a perfect replacement, I would be happy to share.

There was a very good video on the net regarding LED bulbs used in incandescent lamp housings. Now mind the video was touting two sided LED bulbs versus three sided and was of course pushing the company's product, but on the whole explained why LED bulbs don't always work as replacements for incandescent bulbs. This was due to among things, overall light produced by a filament bulb versus LED and the placement of the LEDs in the reflector versus the placement of the filament.

So, yes, I have perhaps beat this subject to it's knees, sorry, sometimes things we do to make improvements don't. Sometimes the easy isn't, and last, don't believe all the hype and advertising when buying a product. LOL, I am looking out for you. Have a fund ride and a safe one. St.
 
Should you wish to learn from experts, browse ... https://www.candlepowerforums.com/forums/automotive-motorcycles-included.87/

Here is part of their "boilerplate" on how to use the forum (relevant to your questions) ...

Interesting… I did not know this was such an issue. Thanks for the info.

All I know is that lately I have to shield my eyes in full daylight as some riders pass with a Christmas tree full of accessory lights turned up full. The situation gets worse when driving at night. I guess as one ages their eyes become more sensitive.

To me, this situation is becoming as bad as loud bikes.
 
Lots of us choose to run led or HID because of the short unpredictable life of H7 bulbs. AND BMW does not sell the little wire bale that like to jump for freedom. And very fragile plastic in the headlamp part that holds this little bail in. Including the difficulty of getting a normal hand into the correct area or disassembly required. They are practically begging you to replace the bulb with a good LED that does not burn out. Sorry but if head light was reliable this discussion would not be needed.

Rod
 
All I know is that lately I have to shield my eyes in full daylight as some riders pass with a Christmas tree full of accessory lights turned up full. The situation gets worse when driving at night. I guess as one ages their eyes become more sensitive.

I agree and have the same experience. But out of an abundance of caution you may wish to have your eyes checked if you have not done so recently. The deleterious effects of bright points of light on vision is one of the signs of the onset of cataracts. DAMHIK.
 
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Interesting… All I know is that lately I have to shield my eyes in full daylight as some riders pass with a Christmas tree full of accessory lights turned up full. The situation gets worse when driving at night. I guess as one ages their eyes become more sensitive.

To me, this situation is becoming as bad as loud bikes.

And that is why, when infrequently riding at night, I ride with one set of auxilary lights turned off. ;)
 
Eyes

As we, I, have gotten older, my night vision has gone to heck and a hand basket. I am a regular visitor for routine eye checks and so far nothing out of the ordinary has been found.

If normal lights are causing problems at night for anyone, then I do urge you get your eyes checked by a good professional.

As for the abnormal lights well, like mufflers or lack of, there are always people who do what they want regardless of if it is right, wrong, dangerous, or distracting. There is more to good safe lighting for bikes and cars involved than just picking a bulb out of website and ordering it.

Make the right choice and make yourself and others happy. St.
 
Interesting… I did not know this was such an issue. Thanks for the info.
I guess as one ages their eyes become more sensitive.

It gets worse. Four years ago I had both cataracts done. Now, on most overcast days as well as sunny ones, I need to wear dark glasses as my eyes find everything too bright. Even with my Shoei dropdown dark sunscreen.

With regards to bright lights Ian, they are possibly as useful (I mean useless) as loud pipes. This afternoon with my LED headlamp on low, two orange LEDs plus two white LEDs, as I approached an intersection, the pickup driver hit his brakes maybe ten feet after leaving the stop sign. I laughed and asked myself how many lights are necessary for a motorcycle to be seen. Forgot to mention that I was also wearing a bright Helite vest.
 
You may need to remove the headlight cluster to complete the install....

I recently replaced an H7 low beam on my 2019 R1250RT. It was a chore. Did not know about this kit until today: https://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/BMW-R1200RTR1250RT-LED-headlight-bulb-kit_p_194.html .
What are your experiences with LED headlights vs. conventional quartz-halogen?

I replaced the high and low beams with the Cyclops product on my 2016 RT, unless you have small, dexterous, hands you should probably think about removing the headlight cluster, installing the lights, and reinstall the cluster. It's a serious PIA and took me about 4 hours for both the uninstall and reinstall.

Love the light though....

Ski
 
To the OP who asked for advise on a kit for his bike, not a safety lecture from old cataract victims (I'm one too).
There are a lot of nay-sayers on this thread that don't even own the bike or generation of the model you are riding, and that's probably because you posted here in the general Motorrad section instead of the Wethead section.

If you are interested in reading an actual review of the Cyclops LED kit you first mentioned in post #1 and want to see pictures of the actual output (which reasonably matches the OEM pattern) I'll just leave a link below. It's relatively expensive (but much less than any of the auxiliary lighting outfits), it is much brighter in the day and at night when high beams are needed, it will last much, much longer, it is a bit of work to dismantle the front end to install them rather than failing to do it the way BMW laughingly engineered any lamp to be changed on a Wethead, and I have NEVER been flashed for having scattered lights that bothered anybody - including the 80% of vehicles who come standard with LED lighting today.

https://www.bmwlt.com/threads/review-of-cyclops-led-headlights-for-wetheads.183415/
 
Interesting stuff in that link, thanks!
It's noteworthy that the Cyclops kit has that fat resistor to "fool the CANBus" - that means that while you do get the extra light, you don't save anything in current... one of the reasons I went with the Speedmetal kit for my Oilhead. (Also note that, electrically, this is what's called "wasted power", as any energy going thru that resistor is converted directly to heat.)
The Speedmetal unit doesn't have a fan, so no noise, but DOES require some airflow at the rear of the assembly. (I have provided that.)

The delay I mentioned in post #2 is due to issues I've been having with my left eye. In spite of that, I do have a narrative and pictures gathered (for later sharing; I may put it in the "Gear" section), but I don't have a picture yet of the pattern at night. Just standing on front of the bike, the pattern seems to be OK, but I'll hopefully confirm that later.

Paul S
 
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